Through Alien Eyes

Six

Ukatonen followed Juna and the doctors as they showed him through the hospital. He had expected something like the sickbay on the Homa Darabi Maru: a few beds, mostly empty, with one or two injured people on their way to recovery. Instead they were walking past room after room full of sick and injured people.

The heavy sour scent of sick humans constricted his nostrils and caught in the back of his throat. He had to work to keep from breathing through his mouth. He’d never dreamed that there could be this many sick people in the world. It was the most horrific thing he had ever seen.

The humans could build bubbles of life in the emptiness of space. Their sky rafts could sail across the unimaginable distance between their world and his. And yet, they had places like these, full of illness and pain. How could they let this happen?

The farther they walked, the more horrified Ukatonen became. Finally, they stopped at a room full of beeping, blinking machines. In the midst of these machines lay a man. There were tubes and wires going into his nose, on his chest, and out of his arms, connecting the man to the machines. His hair was very white, and his skin was thin and wrinkled in the manner of old humans.

“He is dying,” one of the doctors told the Tendu. “Can you help him?”

“We will try,” Ukatonen said. The sick man’s skin felt dry and thin as paper. He smelled sour, like rising pika dough, and his hand lay limply in Ukatonen’s. Ukatonen glanced at Moki, who had moved into position on the other side of the bed. They grasped the man’s arms, and linked with him.

The state of the man’s body was even more of a shock than the hospital had been. Ukatonen had never felt a creature so out of harmony with itself. The man’s body was a mass of out-of-control cells, his heartbeat was thready and thin, and his lungs were fillijig with fluid. There were deep internal scars where he had been cut open and organs had been removed.

Only the doctors’ machines and the medicines were keeping this human alive. The man was frightened and in pain; the sour, bitter tang of it pushed his body even further out of balance. It was appalling. Ukatonen enfolded the sick man’s presence, shutting out the pain, and easing the fear. He felt a sweet rush of gratitude and joy; then the man’s presence folded in on itself, and went away into death, leaving the shattered husk of his body behind.

Ukatonen gently eased out of the link, taking Moki with him.

“He is gone. You may shut off your machines now.”

One of the doctors examined the machines. He lifted the dead man’s eyelid and shone a light into his eye.

“His brain function has stopped. He’s dead,” the doctor reported. He reached over and shut off the machines. “Time of death, nine forty-five A.M.,” he reported somberly.

“You killed him!” one of the other doctors protested.

“He is in harmony now. Before— ” Ukatonen paused searching for words, “he did not want to live. Only his pain kept him tied here. I stopped the pain and the fear, and he left. Why did you not do this sooner?” he demanded. He could feel flickers of anger crossing his back.

Eerin touched Ukatonen’s arm to silence him. “Perhaps,” she suggested to the assembled doctors, “the Tendu should work on patients who are not at death’s door. There was nothing Ukatonen could do to heal this patient.”

She seemed angry, and Ukatonen lifted his ears in surprise.

Eerin began lecturing the doctors, telling them about what the Tendu did, and how they did it. Watching her talk to them, Ukatonen was reminded of her father soothing a skittish horse, and a ripple of amusement coursed down his back.

Moki slipped away from the arguing humans. He walked down the hall, and into a room full of sick children. Some of the children were playing listlessly, others were sitting idly in chairs, too sick to do more than watch the others play. The children stopped what they were doing and stared at him when he walked into the room.

“You’re Moki the Tendu!” a fragile little girl exclaimed. “I saw you on the Tri-V!”

She was a small child with pale, almost translucent skin. Her eyes were pale blue and surprisingly large, with dark shadows underneath them.

“Yes, I am,” Moki said. “And who are you?”

“My name is Shelley Richter,” she said. “Are you sick too?”

“No,” Moki answered, “we came here to make people better. Are you sick?”

“We all are,” she told him. “That’s why we’re here.”

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

“There’s a hole in my heart, and my lungs don’t get enough oxygen,” she explained.

“If you hold out your hands, like this,” he said, extending his arms for allu-a, “I’ll look and see if I can fix it.”

“Will it hurt?” she asked.

“It will be like pricking your finger on a thorn, but after that it won’t hurt at all.”

The little girl considered this information seriously.

“All right,” she said, holding out her arms. “Fix me, please.”

Moki sat down across from the little girl, and clasped her arms. He linked with her, and found the problem almost immediately. He slowed her heart as much as he could, giving her oxygen through his spurs. Working between beats, he closed the hole by encouraging the growth of overlapping flaps of tissue on either side of the hole, which he then fused together. It was delicate, challenging work. When he was done, Moki paused for a moment, savoring the rich taste of the girl’s newly oxygenated blood, then broke the link.

Shelley woke up. Her pale skin now had a faintly pink bloom. “Am I fixed yet?” she asked.

Moki nodded. “How do youjeel now?”

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “I don’t feel tired,” she said, “and I’m hungry.”

“That’s good,” Moki told her. “You should eat a big meal as soon as you can. Your body will need that.”

A little boy came up to him. “Mr. Moki, can you fix me too? I have leukemia.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t you know?” he asked. “I thought you were a doctor.”

“No,” Moki said. “I’m a Tendu. Sit down and let me look inside you, and I’ll see if I can fix you.”

They linked. This one would be harder, he realized. The cells that ate disease in the boy’s blood had proliferated and thrown his entire body out of balance. Moki went deep inside the child’s bone marrow, searching for the cells that created the problem, killing those that were out of balance. He gently encouraged the proliferation of healthy cells, and filtered out the unbalanced killer cells.

He was undoing the damage from the medicines the doctors had used, when suddenly he was torn out of the link. He cried out in pain, colors flashing across his body. A human woman was standing over him, shouting. He scrambled away from her, and fled.

Juna walked home with a bag full of groceries, reviewing the day’s disastrous events. She still vibrated with anger when she remembered how Moki clung, cringing and terrified, to a small tree in a planter, trying to hide in its inadequate cover. Even with Ukatonen’s help, it had taken several hours to get a coherent version of what had happened.

And then there was Ukatonen. Juna rubbed her free hand across her forehead. The doctors should never have asked him to heal someone so seriously ill, especially not as a first attempt. She understood that medical protocols required that any experimental technique be tried on terminally ill patients first, but—

“Dr. Saari?”

Juna looked up, startled out of her reverie.

It was a woman close to her own age. She was thin, worn, and nervous; her clothes were shabby. Juna’s security escort moved to cut her off.

“Please, Dr. Saari, I need to talk to you about what Moki did to my daughter.”

“It’s okay,” Juna told the security man. The woman looked too spent and tired to be a threat.

“Dr. Saari, I really don’t think— ” the guard began.

“It’s okay,” Juna insisted in a voice that did not invite argument.

“Yes?” she prompted, looking back at the woman.

“I’m Loreena Richter, Shelley’s mother.”

“What did Moki do, Mrs. Richter?” Juna asked a bit sharply. It had been a long day, and she wasn’t really up to dealing with another problem.

“I wanted to thank him. My daughter, he— ”

Juna realized the woman was on the edge of tears. “Here,” she said, guiding her to a park bench, ignoring the protests of her guard. “Sit down. Tell me what happened.” She put her groceries down, fumbled out a clean handkerchief, and handed it to the woman.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Saari. It’s just that it’s all so sudden and unexpected.”

“Yes?” Juna said, and waited.

“My daughter, Shelley has— I mean, she had, a hole in her heart. She was on the waiting list for a transplant, but it’s such a long list, and the older she got, the harder it was for her heart to keep up with her. The doctors gave her another six months if we didn’t find a heart. I was beginning to give up hope. I mean, the list is so long.” She paused, fighting back tears.

“Moki healed her this morning. The doctors haven’t seen anything like it. She could leave the hospital today, and live an ordinary life like any child, but the doctors want to study her.” The woman took a deep breath and looked up at Juna. “I came straight from the hospital. I wanted to thank Moki for saving my daughter’s life.”

“Come with me,” Juna told Mrs. Richter. “I’ll take you to see him.” She looked up at the guard, challenging him to make another protest.

“It’s your life,” he said with a resigned shrug.

When they reached the apartment, Juna asked Mrs. Richter to have a seat while she saw if Moki was awake. The guard stood by the door, watching Mrs. Richter war-ily.

Juna went into her bedroom. Moki was lying on the bed, his eyes hooded by his nictitating membranes.

“Moki, the mother of the girl you healed is here. She would like to see you.”

Moki got up slowly, and pulled on his shorts. “Is she angry at me?” he asked, his skin flaring pale orange with fear.

“It’s all right, Moki. She wants to thank you. Come and talk to her.”

Mrs. Richter hesitated slightly when Moki came out of the bedroom, but she conquered her uncertainty and stood.

“Moki, this is Mrs. Richter. She’s Shelley’s mother.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Richter,” Moki said. “Is Shelley all right?”

“She’s completely healed, Moki. I came to thank you for giving me my daughter back.”

Moki nodded.

“My husband died in an accident a couple of years ago,” Mrs. Richter continued. “My family is back on Earth, so Shelley is all I’ve got. I thought I was going to lose her too.” She bowed her head, blinking back tears, then looked up. “But now she’s going to be all right, thanks to you.”

“Does this mean you’re not angry at me?” Moki asked.

Mrs. Richter looked startled. “Moki, why would I be angry with you? This is a miracle.”

“The other woman was angry,” Moki explained. “I was healing a boy with”—he paused, searching for the word—“leukemia. A woman broke the link. She was yelling at me. I don’t know why. It isn’t good to break a link like that. The boy could have been badly hurt.”

Mrs. Richter turned to Juna. “I don’t understand.”

“Moki got bored while Ukatonen and I were discussing a case with some of the doctors,” Juna explained. “He wandered off by himself, into the pediatric ward. That’s where he met your daughter. After he healed her, a little boy came up and asked to be healed. While he was in the middle of a link, a nurse came up and saw him with the boy. She ripped Moki’s spurs out of the boy’s arms, breaking the link.” Juna paused, trying to stanch the anger that welled up in her. “Moki is still young. He isn’t fully trained yet. Breaking the link like that threw him into shock. He panicked and ran.”

“Is he all right?” Mrs. Richter asked.

“He is now. Ukatonen helped bring him out of it. But the hospital isn’t very pleased with us, I’m afraid. Moki was healing those children without permission. And— ” Juna paused, uncertain about what to tell this woman. “The first patient that Ukatonen was asked to work on was so far gone that he died while Ukatonen was linked with him. I don’t think we’re going to be here much longer.”

“Oh no! That’s terrible! They can’t send you away! Think of all the good that Moki can do!” Mrs. Richter said. “Please, let me help you. Shelley’s been here so long, I know the hospital administration backwards and forwards.”

Juna thought it over; she was a stranger here, and didn’t know the system. They needed help.

“We’d appreciate any help you could give us, Mrs. Richter,” Juna said. “Thank you.”

“Dr. Saari, it’s you, and Moki, who deserve the thanks. Without you, my daughter might have died.”

“We’re here to heal people,” Moki declared. “Besides, healing Shelley was easy. It was just one simple thing. The boy with leukemia was much harder to heal.”

Mrs. Richter shook her head in amazement. “I’ll call the hospital administrator first thing tomorrow morning.”

Around the middle of the morning, Juna received a coram call from the hospital administrators, asking her to meet with them in an hour.

The hospital’s chief administrator, a round, rather jovial-looking African, called the meeting to order.

“Dr. Saari, I wanted to apologize to you about yesterday’s misunderstanding. According to Mrs. Richter, your son performed a miracle yesterday. Two miracles, actually. The doctors can find no trace of leukemia in Ian Mcln-tyre. He appears completely cured. Clearly the Tendu are capable of great things. We very much want you to stay here. However, we do need to set up some rules for the Tendu to work under.”

“Thank you, Dr. Andraia,” Juna said. “The Tendu have a very different view of health and medicine than conventional human doctors. I agree with you. The Tendu and your doctors need to have a better understanding of how to work together. Ukatonen and I have discussed this, and we have two suggestions. First, let the Tendu choose who they can heal. Second, give each of the Tendu a medically qualified escort, someone who can explain the nature of the medical problems they encounter, as well as what human medical ethics are in these situations.”

“These seem like good procedures,” Dr. Andraia said. “Are there any other suggestions?”

“If the Tendu are going to just wander around the hospital and heal people, how are we going to monitor what is going on?” one doctor protested. “And how are we going to keep this classified?”

“That’s a good question, Dr. Shaw,” Andraia said. “Juna?”

She turned to the enkar. “Ukatonen, do you have any suggestions?”

“We could include a doctor in the link with us, I suppose.”

“I’m afraid that wasn’t quite what we had in mind,” one of the other doctors said. “We need to hook you up to machines that can monitor your heartbeat, and your brain waves.”

“I see,” Ukatonen said. “How much time does it take to set up these machines?”

“It takes about fifteen minutes to set everything up. We can use one of the upstairs examining rooms.”

“Then Moki and I will heal our patients in that room,” Ukatonen said. “I will be interested to see what these machines do.”

“But what about those of us who want to investigate how the Tendu heal a specific problem?” another doctor asked.

“We can work on that after we’ve found the best way to study what the Tendu are doing,” Dr. Andraia said. “Ukatonen, Moki, I apologize for the initial misunderstanding and I hope that we can figure out a harmonious working arrangement.”

“Thank you, Dr. Andraia,” said the enkar. “Moki and I are looking forward to learning from you.”

A lavender ripple of relief coursed over Ukatonen’s body as he turned on the shower. It had been a very long day. He and Moki had healed five people today, four yesterday, and two the day before. He was drained and weary, and beginning to feel as out of harmony as the people he healed. He needed a green, quiet place in which to restore his balance. Tomorrow, they would rest, he decided. He would get out with Eerin and Moki and they would find a tree, and climb it, and not come down until they felt more in balance.

He emerged from the shower and climbed into bis moist, heated bed, and fell asleep.

The next day they explored several of the station’s gardens, climbing trees, swinging from branch to branch. They found a small, quiet park with gnarled pine trees and rounded, moss-covered stones. Water trickled from a bamboo pipe into a dark pool where bright orange fish swirled and circled. The garden’s tranquillity and balance filled Ukatonen with peace.

“I like this place,” he remarked to Eerin. “It has ruwar-a.”

“This garden,” she told him, “was designed by Mo-toyoshi XVI. His family have designed gardens for almost a thousand years, first in Japan, then around the world. A branch of the family moved into, space two centuries ago. Do you remember the Uenos?” she asked.

Moki nodded. “Your neighbors, the ones with the strange fish.”

“Mrs. Ueno is a Motoyoshi; she told me all about her family.” Eerin smiled, remembering. “You should see her garden. There’s a bonsai that’s almost three hundred years old. It was a wedding present from her family.”

“I would like to meet the man who created this garden,” Ukatonen said. “I think I would like him very much.”

“I think you would too,” Eerin agreed. “But he died ten years ago. He was Mrs. Ueno’s grandfather. She told me about this garden.”

A grey cloud of sadness passed over the enkar’s skin at this news. “You humans live such short lives,” he said. Eerin’s people desperately needed the healing he and Moki were providing.

“Actually, Mr. Motoyoshi was nearly one hundred and thirty years old when he died,” Eerin said. “He lived a very long life for a human.”

“But that would still be young for a Tendu, even with the difference between your years and ours.”

Eerin nodded. “We live longer now than we once did. Until the twentieth century, most people were lucky to reach sixty.”

“I know, but even a hundred and thirty years seems too short to me. But then, it’s hard to believe that most of what I have seen here is no more than a century old. Where are your people’s roots?”

“On Earth, where we came from,” Eerin said. “But we brought our roots with us,” she added, gesturing at the little gnarled tree.

“Earth,” Ukatonen said. “When are we going to see it?”

Eerin ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t know,” she said. “Soon, I hope. In a few more months, I’ll be too pregnant to travel.”

“Why can’t we just get on a shuttle and go?” Moki asked.

“Because people are still afraid of you,” Juna replied. “They don’t want you on Earth because they think you might spread disease.”

Red lightning forks of anger flickered over Ukatonen’s skin. “Haven’t we been through this already?”

“I agree. It makes no sense,” Juna replied. “But this is often true of my people. One of the reasons that we are here, healing people, is to show them how much good you can do.”

“I see,” Ukatonen said. “This is not just research, then? Healing these people will help your people trust us?”

“I hope so,” Eerin said. “I hope so.”

About a week after they had settled things with the hospital, Juna was watching the Tri-V with Moki when the door chime rang.

It was her guard. “Excuse me, Dr. Saari, but this gentleman insists on seeing you. And well— ” Glancing beyond the guard Juna saw a handsome, dark-skinned man with sharp-chinned features that looked vaguely Vietnamese. He was dressed in a quietly elegant suit that must have cost a great deal, and he had the presence of someone who expected to be recognized wherever he went.

“My name is Yang Xaviera,” the visitor said. “I am here on behalf of the Xaviera family. Please forgive your guard, I really have been most persistent. He has checked my identification, and searched me most thoroughly. I am quite safe.”

Juna was too stunned to speak. The Xaviera family was one of the wealthiest and most powerful group families in the solar system. They practically owned the Moon.

“I see,” she said, recovering herself. “Please come in.”

“Thank you, Dr. Saari. I apologize for not contacting you first, but your comm is very tightly filtered, and we were unable to get through to you. We could have worked through an agent, but this way is both more discreet, and more direct. As I mentioned, I am here on behalf of the Xaviera family. We have come to ask permission to court you.”

Juna stared at him, astonished for the second time in a minute.

“It is most gracious of you to see me,” he went on. “I apologize for surprising you in this manner.” He remained polite and serious, though Juna knew she must present a laughable spectacle.

“Please, sit down,” she said at last, motioning him to the couch. “Would you like some tea?”

“Thank you,” he replied.

She headed for the kitchen, grateful for a moment to think, but Moki already had the kettle on and was spooning tea into the pot.

“It’s all right, siti,” he told her. “I’ll do it.”

Juna returned to the living room. Yang was perched on the sofa like some rare tropical bird. She sat down in the armchair, painfully aware of how untidy the apartment looked. They had been working very hard, and there hadn’t been any time to clean.

“Moki will bring the tea,” she explained. “He feels that it’s his job to look after me.”

“Indeed,” Yang said. He held out a dossier. “These are our bona fides. We encourage you to have them verified.”

Juna took the folder, which was made of rough, expensive paper embossed with the Xaviera’s Family seal: “Thank you,” she said, putting it down on the table.

“There are many more influential and interesting people for your family to marry. Why are you interested in me?” she asked.

“On the contrary, Dr. Saari— ” he began.

“Please, call me Juna.”

“Juna, you survived for four and a half years on an unexplored planet, lived among aliens, learned their language, and helped negotiate the beginnings of a most impressive First Contact treaty. Then you bullied some of the most powerful politicians in the system into releasing you and the Tendu from quarantine. By any standards you care to use, you are a most exceptional person, and that has drawn my family’s attention to you. We would like to get to know you better, and perhaps”—he gestured at the folder—“arrange a more permanent alliance. I think, under the circumstances, you could use some powerful allies.”

Moki brought in the tea things then, carefully arranged on a tray. Their guest’s eyes followed his progress from the kitchen to the table.

“Yang Xaviera, this is my adopted son, Moki.”

“I’m honored to meet you,” Yang said. “I’ve heard so much about you and your mother on the Tri-V and the net.”

“It’s good to meet you, too. Do you want to marry my sitik?”

“Moki— ” Juna began, but Yang interrupted her.

“Our family would like to get to know her better. If she likes us, and we like her, then yes, the two of you might join our family.”

“What about Ukatonen?” Moki asked.

“Ukatonen is welcome as well,” Yang said.

“We are a package deal,” Juna informed him. She picked up the folder and paged through it. Holograms of spacious mansions and beautiful gardens leaped off the page, pausing at a shot of a well-equipped playground with a dozen happy children at play. It was tempting, and it would indeed be interesting to be courted by a rich and powerful family. She closed the folder.

“You honor me with your interest,” she said. “I will give your offer serious consideration. I should warn you that the Tendu and I have a very full schedule at present. I don’t know when we can get time off to come and visit you.”

“I understand. This invitation has surprised you. Please take all the time you need to consider it. Our offer is open-ended.”

She stood, and Yang rose as well.

“Thank you, Juna,” he said. “I appreciate your kindness in agreeing to see me.” He took one of her hands in his. “It has indeed been a great honor to meet you and Moki. To tell the truth, I did not expect you to be so young and beautiful.” He kissed her hand, making the antique gesture seem both appropriate and graceful.

Juna blushed, and lowered her eyes. Her pulse was racing. She felt as giddy as a young girl.

“Thank you for coming, Mr. Xaviera,” she said, looking up. “We are honored by your visit.” .

He inclined his head. “I look forward to seeing you again, Juna. Our family is eager to get to know you better.”

Then he was gone. Juna stood staring at the closed door for a moment, then leaned against it and began to laugh. This was like something out of a bad Tri-V series.

Moki touched her arm, ochre with concern. “Are you all right?” he asked.

Juna wiped away the tears of laughter. “I’m fine, Moki. It’s just that this is all so strange.” She picked up the elegant folder, flipped through it again, and then tossed it onto her pile of mail. “Cmon, let’s go find Ukatonen and go out for dinner.”

Ukatonen quickly established a routine. For three or four days in a row, he and Moki would go through the wards, healing people. Sometimes it was easy, a matter of adjusting faulty chemistry, or killing off an infection. Other times it was a long, involved process, clearing out plaque-choked arteries, destroying cancer cells, and coaxing damaged tissue to regrow. At the end of each day, Ukatonen went to the Motoyoshi garden, sometimes with Moki, sometimes alone, and sat there in silence beside the trickling water, watching the fish, and drinking in the serenity of the garden.

Occasionally the doctors had them test various medicines to see if they could be changed or improved. Uka-tonen liked that work. It was intricate, and tested his skill at allu-a. He was coming to respect human medicine. Humans had accomplished a great deal, despite the immense handicaps they struggled under. The drugs that they created with their cumbersome chemistry worked surprisingly well. Often, Ukatonen was able to make a drug work more effectively, though communicating what to change proved very difficult. Few of the researchers were willing to link with him, and those that did were faced with the same problem: how to convert the touch/smell/taste of allu-a into the language of chemistry.

And they were discovering ways to help improve a healer’s abilities in allu-a. An intravenous feed of glucose and salts enabled them to accomplish much more during a healing session. He recovered faster, as well. They were working on mineral supplements to speed the healing of bones. He looked forward to taking these ideas back to Tiangi.

As rumors about their work spread through the hospital, patients began begging for their help. Moki found this particularly wrenching. Ukatonen tried to explain to Moki that sometimes it was necessary to turn away from need, but it was a lesson that the bami was not yet ready to learn.

As the appeals increased, Ukatonen came to rely more and more on the sense of peace he found in the Japanese garden.

Then one evening, Ukatonen’s peaceful refuge was shattered. It had been a particularly trying day. While they were preparing for the last healing, a man barged into the room. He seized Ukatonen’s arm and began pleading with him to heal his wife. Security guards rushed in and took him away, but even now, as Ukatonen sat in the garden, he could still feel the hot imprint of the man’s pleading hands on his arms and in his spirit. Trying to heal this endless tide of sick humans was like emptying a river with an open-weave basket.

“Mr. Ukatonen?” a voice broke in on his thoughts.

Ukatonen blinked back the nictitating membranes hooding his eyes. A woman was standing a few feet away, microphone in hand. A reporter.

“I understand that you’ve been performing miracles at the hospital. Would you care to comment?”

“I do not give interviews. You must talk to Ms. Goudrian,” he said, and turned away, hooding his eyes again, and letting a broad streak of yellow fork across his torso to indicate that he was not to be disturbed.

But the woman would not leave him alone. Finally Ukatonen got up and walked back to the apartment. The garden was no longer his refuge. If this woman had found it, then others would follow.

Juna was catching up on her correspondence when her comm program signaled her with Analin’s familiar chime.

Their press secretary’s normally cheerful face looked strained and worried. “There’s an exclusive interview on WorldNet with the mother of a child that Moki healed. It’s gotten so many hits they’ve had to put it on twenty different servers. Here,” she said, reaching forward to touch a button, “listen to this.”

The image on the screen cut to the familiar WorldNet logo, then to the figure of netcaster Natalie Ndabari.

“I’m standing in front of Snyder Research Hospital; Rumors have been emerging recently that Ukatonen and Moki, the two alien Tendu, have been performing miracle cures. I’m here with Loreena Richter.” Juna’s heart sank when she saw the camera pan to include the woman whose daughter Moki had healed.

“Mrs. Richter, could you please tell us about your daughter?”

“Yes. My daughter, Shelley, had a hole in her heart. She was a candidate for transplant surgery, but there’s such a shortage of hearts, I didn’t think she was going to live long enough for a transplant. But then Moki, the younger Tendu, healed her.”

“How did he do that, Mrs. Richter?”

“From what Shelley tells me, he simply clasped her hands and they went into some kind of trance. But now her heart is as sound as a normal child’s. It truly is a miracle.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Richter.”

The camera zoomed in on the netcaster’s face, and she continued. “So far, Snyder Hospital has refused to confirm Mrs. Richter’s statement, nor has there been any word from Dr. Saari or the Tendu. I’m Natalie Ndabari, and this has been a WorldNet breaking news report.”

The WorldNet logo flickered briefly on the screen, and then Analin reappeared.

“Well, so much for peace and quiet,” Juna remarked. “You’d better come on over.”

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” Analin promised. “Meanwhile, call station security and have them secure your hallway.”

Ukatonen came in just then, slamming the door behind him loudly enough to make her jump. He was so red with anger, he seemed to glow.

“I’ve got to go,” Juna told Analin. “Ukatonen just came in, and he looks upset.”

“I’ll be over as quickly as I can.”

“Thanks,” Juna said.

“Hey, that’s what you pay me for,” Analin said with a smile. “Something like this was inevitable, given the Tendu’s talents. I’ll do what I can to minimize the impact on you, but you should brace yourself for some heavy weather ahead.”

“I think some of it just blew in the door,” Juna said, and signed off.

“What’s the matter, Ukatonen?”

“There was a reporter in the Japanese garden,” he said in skin speech. His words were dark black against the glowing red of his skin. It reminded Juna of cooling lava. “She wanted to know about the work we’re doing at the hospital. I told her I wasn’t going to talk to her, but she wouldn’t leave me alone!”

“Did you say anything?”

Ukatonen shook his head. “No, but she wouldn’t leave me alone! Why?”

Juna laid a gentling hand on his arm. Despite the deceptively blazing color of his skin, it was as cool and moist as a spring rain.

“Ukatonen, word of what we’ve been doing has gotten out.” Briefly, she summarized Analin’s comm call. “It looks like the press are going to be all over us again,” she said with a sigh.

“Why wouldn’t she leave me alone?” Ukatonen repeated. “I told her I wasn’t going to talk to her. Didn’t she believe me?”

He was an enkar, and on Tiangi no one would dream of being so rude to someone of his status.

Juna sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was tired, her breasts and back were sore. All she wanted to do was lie down and sleep until the baby came.

“You did exactly the right thing, Ukatonen,” she told him. “But reporters are paid to be persistent. They don’t care that you’re an enkar. To them you’re only a story. That’s why we have Analin to deal with them.”

Ukatonen’s color had cooled somewhat, but he was still clearly agitated. “She was so rude,” he said aloud and then again in skin speech. The words flared black against his red skin. They faded and flared over and over again, gradually growing fainter, like a dying echo of his spoken words.

Analin’s warning proved all too true. Despite everything Analin did to minimize the impact, they were mobbed, first by the press, and then by people begging to be healed. The hospital called Juna and told her to stay home. They were afraid there would be a riot if the Tendu showed up.

So they remained caged at home. Ukatonen and Moki helped her clean house, after which the two Tendu sought comfort in a long, intense link. Juna looked around at the clean apartment, trying to find something else that needed tidying. Finally, desperate for something to do, she attacked the enormous pile of mail on her desk. As she was sorting through it, she came across the folder from the Xaviera family. She picked it up and began paging through it. Juna was pleasantly surprised to see that the Xaviera family residences, though gracious and beautiful, were not nearly as grand as she would have imagined. There were plenty of amenities, but very little overt display of wealth.

The gardens, however, were another story. They were filled with rare and beautiful plants and animals, many extinct in their native habitat. Every effort had been made to create and preserve full ecosystems. She turned to a double page hologram of their fifty-hectare rain forest preserve on the Moon, and smiled wistfully. Ukatonen and Moki would love that.

She looked up at the closed door of their room. Yang had said that their invitation to visit was open-ended. The hospital couldn’t use them, and there was nothing else for her to do here except answer mail. If they were out of the public eye for a week or so, perhaps the furor would die down and they could slip quietly back to Snyder and continue their work.

She put a call through to the Xaviera family and left a message for Yang. He returned her call after only two hours.

“Juna! I’m glad you called! Are you coming to visit?”

“I’d like to, but— ” She paused. “Have you seen the news? I’m afraid that we’re all over the net. The hospital is mobbed, and they’re afraid of a riot if we show up. It looks like we finally have time to visit, but I’m afraid that we’d be bringing trouble with us.”

“Nonsense, Juna. Discretion is one of our family specialties. The Tendu will be coming with you of course?” he inquired politely.

“I couldn’t leave them behind.”

“Of course, and they will be welcome. You’ve seen our rain forest?”

“Oh, yes. The Tendu will love it.”

Yang smiled. “We hope so. Now, let me make some arrangements, and then I’ll call you right back.”

Discretion was, indeed, a family specialty. Somehow, Juna and the Tendu were whisked off the station in the middle of the night, escaping through the service tunnels, and onto a private shuttle. Only Analin and Toivo knew where they were going.

“It’s the Tendu,” Analin had said, when Juna told her about the proposal. “They want access to the Tendu.”

“I know,” Juna replied. “But I’m tired of doing all this by myself. I need someone powerful in my corner.”

“Be careful, Juna,” Analin warned.

“I will be,” she said.

Now, staring out through the filtered window at the sunlit surface of the Moon, she wondered how wise she was being. The Xavieras were immensely powerful. They could ruin her, or kill Toivo and Analin, and kidnap her and the Tendu. She took a deep breath, fighting off the crawling paranoia that had risen from the depths of her psyche. There was no turning back now. The shuttle was landing.

Yang met them at the gate. “Welcome to J6ia da Lua, Juna. I am honored to meet you, Ukatonen, and it is good to see you again, Moki. I hope you enjoy your stay with us.” He escorted them to a ground car with fat rubber moon wheels.

“What about our bags?” Moki asked.

“Don’t worry, they’re being taken directly to your rooms,” Yang told him. Yang opened the door to the ground car, a big, luxurious model that could seat at least six people in the back, and waved them graciously inside before climbing in himself. “We’re so glad you were able to come. The rest of the family can’t wait to meet you.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting them as well,” Juna said. “Getting us here must have been a great deal of work. I’m sorry if we caused you any additional trouble.”

Yang shrugged elegantly. “My family has often had to travel discreetly. We have systems in place to do so. The hardest part was getting you out of your apartment and into the service tunnels without being seen. Everything else was easy.”

The car entered a tunnel. Juna felt her throat close in sudden terror. Perhaps all this was a ruse, a cover for kidnapping them. They stopped at a huge airlock door. There was a rumbling and a heavy thud behind them as the back door of the massive cargo airlock closed. Then the front door opened, and green forest light flooded in.

They drove out into the midst of a jungle. The trees, in the Moon’s reduced gravity were hugely tall. Ukatonen and Moki chittered excitedly, staring out the windows at the passing forest, their skins bright pink with excitement.

Yang smiled. “They like the forest?” he asked.

“It’s like water on parched soil for them. They haven’t seen a proper rain forest in— ” She thought for a minute. “It’s been almost a year. They spent some time in our satellite’s Diversity Plot, but that was a temperate-zone forest, nothing like this.”

“It was my great-grandfather’s project. He wanted to create a rain forest like the ones in Brazil. It took ten years just to create the proper soil, then another twenty to establish a canopy so that the understory plaffits could go in. It’s still maturing after nearly fifty years, and we keep expanding it. Last year, we roofed another five-hectare section, and we’ve started processing the soil. Our ecologists are looking forward to showing you the forest.”

Ukatonen tore himself away from the window. “Ecologists?” he asked. “Are these the people whose atwa is this forest?”

“Yes,” Juna told him.

“Then I would be most interested in speaking with them,” the enkar said. “But first, Moki and I will need to inspect the forest.”

Juna turned toward the window to hide a smile. It was the closest to a direct request that Ukatonen’s dignity would allow.

“There will be plenty of time for you and Moki to explore. You’ll be here for eight days,” Yang assured them.

Glancing back, Juna could see Mold’s ears droop, and Ukatonen’s color fade slightly. For them, a month would be barely enough time to get to know the forest.

The forest opened up and they drove through a gate and into the compound. The car came to a stop in front of a long, low-slung wooden house with a gracious and welcoming front porch. Several young servants in livery stepped forward to open the doors of the ground car.

A fine-boned middle-aged Asian man stepped down from the porch to greet them. He said something in Vietnamese and Yang nodded. There was an air of command about the older man, as though he was used to having his orders followed.

“Dr. Saari, Ukatonen, Moki, I am honored to introduce you to my bio-father, Quang Nguyen Xaviera, current head of the Xaviera family.”

Juna’s eyes widened fractionally in surprise. They must really want the Tendu, if they were sending the son of the head of the family to court her.

“I am honored to meet you, Mr. Xaviera,” Juna said.

Mr. Xaviera bowed to her. “Thank you Dr. Saari, I am honored to meet you as well.”

Mr. Xaviera greeted the two Tendu as formally and as ceremoniously as he had greeted Juna. Ukatonen and Moki returned his bow and greeted him in equally formal Standard and Tendu skin speech. Then Quang Nguyen Xaviera escorted them into the house and introduced them to his wife, Abeo, a tall, commanding African woman who ran one of the largest shipping concerns in space. She was dressed magnificently in brightly printed African robes, and wore heavy gold jewelry.

“Welcome, Juna. Welcome, Ukatonen. Welcome, Moki,” she said. “Welcome to our house.” She clapped her hands and a dark-skinned girl came forward bearing a tray with a fragrant bowl of rose water and crisp linen hand towels.

“This is my daughter Oseye.” Oseye bowed her head, peering sideways at the Tendu.

“Please accept our humble hospitality,” she said, proffering the tray. They washed their hands and Oseye carried off the tray.

“Your journey must have been very long,” Mrs. Xaviera said. “My other daughter, Ngoc, will show you to your rooms. I am sorry that my other son, Raoul, is not here to meet you, but he is studying on Earth.”

Ngoc, a somewhat older version of Oseye, escorted the guests down a long hallway to an elegant suite, then bowed and left them.

“When can we go see the forest?” Moki asked.

“I don’t know, Moki,” Juna answered. “I’ll try to arrange something as soon as possible. Right now, let’s unpack and get settled.”

They showered and changed. Half an hour later, a young boy knocked on their door. He was bearing a tray with tea things artfully arranged on it. He introduced himself as Joao, a member of a collateral branch of the Xavieras, one of Yang’s cousins.

Moki watched Joao intently as he deftly poured the tea and served each of them.

“Our father, Quang Nguyen, respectfully invites you to visit him in the aviary when you have finished your tea. I will be honored to escort you there.”

The young man was well trained. He didn’t stare at the Tendu, though Juna noticed a few covert glances in their direction when he thought they weren’t looking. Once he had served them, he glided quietly to the door and stood beside it like a statue.

Mold’s ears lifted and he flushed purple with curiosity. “Isn’t he going to eat with us?” he said in skin speech.

Juna shook her head. “No, Moki, he’s supposed to be invisible, like a tinka, only he’s a person.”

“You treat people like tinka?” Ukatonen asked. His skin turned beige. He was clearly appalled at the thought of such rudeness.

Juna shrugged. “I don’t entirely understand this, Ukatonen, but even though he’s a member of the family, he is functioning in the role of servant. As a servant he’s supposed to be invisible. But he’s considered to be a person, and has the legal rights of a person, unlike a tinka. So he’s more like a bami. Perhaps later, when he is off duty, you can ask him about it. But,” she added, taking one of the exquisite tea biscuits from the silver tray, “it is not polite to discuss such things in front of Joao now, not when he is unable to participate in this discussion.”

They finished their tea, with Moki sneaking occasional wide-eyed glances at their young servitor. Joao watched him back. Ukatonen watched all the watching, slow blue and green ripples of amusement sliding across his body.

Joao escorted them through the compound and down a long breezeway that ran along a courtyard dominated by a large steel sculpture. Several children were sliding down it, and they left off what they were doing and followed the visitors, staring curiously af the Tendu and giggling. They were bright and happy children, brown and beautiful. It was easy for Juna to imagine her own daughter playing among them. This would be a wonderful place to bring up a child.

Then they rounded the corner of a large building, and found Quang Nguyen Xaviera standing inside a huge aviary, watching a cloud of hummingbirds zooming around a feeder. The tiny birds were almost too fast to see as they dove and hovered in front of the bright red feeder. Quang Nguyen looked up as they came in.

“Welcome,” he said. “I wanted to show you around our compound. I thought that the aviary would be an interesting place to start.”

“What is this?” Moki asked.

“It’s a place where we keep birds, Moki. Most of these are hummingbirds from Brazil, one of the places on Earth where my family comes from.”

“Why are you keeping hummingbirds?” Moki asked.

Mr. Xaviera smiled. “We keep them because they are beautiful, and rare. The rain forests where they once lived were destroyed. Until they can be replaced, we keep them safe here.”

Ukatonen’s hand darted out and he plucked one of the brilliant birds from the air and stuck his spur into it Mr. Xaviera’s eyes widened in surprise and alarm.

“Ukatonen!” Juna cried, terrified that the enkar had offended this rich and powerful man.

Ukatonen released the bird. It zipped off unharmed, to Quang Nguyen’s evident relief.

“Fascinating. They are much like the watani at home. They eat nectar?”

Mr. Xaviera nodded hesitantly. “Yes, yes they do. That feeder is full of it. The red attracts them.”

Ukatonen held up his arm, and let the skin around his spurs turn bright red. As they watched, one of the hummingbirds came up and sipped drops of nectar from his spurs.

“When I was a bami, I used to do this all the time,” Ukatonen said. “It was harder with the watani, but these birds are extremely tame. There was one who I trained to come to my hand. It used to follow me around, pestering me for nectar.”

“Did it have a name?” Joao asked.

Ukatonen shook his head. “My people do not name animals. They simply are. Sometimes we tame them, but they are not really pets, not as you humans know them. We tame them to understand their nature better.”

It was an awkward moment, until Moki broke the tension. “Mr. Xaviera, when can we see the forest?”

He smiled down at Moki. “How about right now?”

They followed him out of the aviary, and down a path into the jungle. Soon they were surrounded by tall trees.

“This is the oldest part of the forest,” Mr. Xaviera explained. “These trees were planted by my grandfather. I look at them, and feel young.”

Moki and Ukatonen were both looking up at the trees, their skin blue-grey with longing.

“Mr. Xaviera, can we climb these trees?” Moki asked.

“Are you sure you can climb them safely?”

Moki nodded.

“And you will not hurt any of the plants or animals?”

“Yes, Mr. Xaviera, we will be careful,” Moki said reassuringly.

“Is it all right with you, Juna?”

“Of course, Mr. Xaviera. They’re both expert climbers, and I can assure you that the creatures and plants will not be harmed.”

“Then please,” he said spreading his hands palms upward, “be my guests.”

Moki scrambled up the trunk of the nearest tree. Uka-tonen followed him, moving as swiftly as his dignity would allow. They were up the tree and out of sight in less than a minute.

“Wow! Just like a monkey!” Joao said, staring upward, his mouth agape in amazement. Then he remembered himself, and looked embarrassed.

“Joao!” Quang Nguyen snapped. “That’s no way to talk about our guests.”

Juna laughed. “It’s all right, Quang Nguyen. Sometimes they remind me of monkeys, too, but they’re much more civilized. Look at them now,” she said, pointing at the two Tendu flickering blue and green as they leaped through the trees, the lighter gravity making it look as though they were flying. “Aren’t they beautiful?”

It took the Xavieras a while to pick them out, but finally she saw Joao’s face open in delighted recognition, and then Quang Nguyen saw them too. Juna watched them wistfully, longing to climb with them, but held down by her human responsibilities.

“I’m afraid that they’ll be up there for a while,” she said apologetically. “It’s been a long time since they’ve been in an environment that was anything like their own.”

Quang Nguyen smiled. “I understand. I feel much the same way when I’m back in Vietnam. I’m glad we are able to make them happy. May I show you the rest of the compound?”

He gave her the grand tour, introducing her to various members of the family as they encountered them, making a particular effort to bring eligible bachelors to her attention.

“This is one of our retreats,” he told Juna. “Most of the people here are on family leave or sabbatical. We encourage the members of our family to take long family leaves, and allow a two-year sabbatical once every seven years. After all, what is the point of having wealth if one does not have the time to enjoy it?”

Juna smiled but didn’t comment, not really knowing what to say to this. She had never thought about what it would be like to be wealthy. The idea felt strange to her.

The clamor of children’s voices came to her. They rounded a corner and were facing a schoolhouse with a large, well-equipped playground filled with children.

“This is our school,” Quang Nguyen said. “It has just let out for the day.”

“Surely these are not all your children!” Juna exclaimed.

He shook his head, his dark eyes alight with amusement. “No, most of them are from Copernicus City. We take as many of their best and brightest as we can, and we run a lottery, giving chances to the poorest thirty percent of the families. It gives us an interesting mix of students. Only about five percent of the students are actually family members.”

“Sir, my shift is over,” Joao said. “May I please be excused?”

“I’m sorry, Joao. Please run along.”

“It’s been a pleasure serving you, Dr. Saari. I liked meeting the Tendu.”

“Thank you, Joao. Please feel free to come and visit us later, if you wish. I know Moki would like to get to know you better.”

“Thank you, Dr. Saari!” Joao bowed and ran off.

“Mr. Xaviera, may I ask you a personal question?”

“Please, go ahead.”

“I notice that your children work as servants. Why is this?”

“That is a very good question, my dear,” he said, sitting down on a bench. “Employing our children as servants has been Xaviera family policy for several generations. We even emigrated from the Earth to the Moon in order to continue doing so.

“Many of our children will go on to run large organizations. We feel that it’s important for them to learn to serve before they learn to rule. That way they do not take their privilege for granted. We are very strict with them during the years they are in service to the family. They must each work three days a week, and make up for the schooling that they miss. We have tutors to help them. They are paid what we would pay a regular servant. Half of this money goes into a fund that they receive when they reach majority. The other half is theirs to spend, save, or invest.”

He smiled. “I invested most of my spending money in an older cousin’s start-up company. We lost our shirts, but we learned a great deal from the experience. What we ask our children to do is both difficult and controversial, but I was raised that way, and I feel that it was a valuable experience. As a servant, I learned things that I never would have in school, things that served me well, and are still serving me well.”

“You know,” Juna said thoughtfully, “this is very similar to how the Tendu treat their bami. I assume that Moki would also be expected to serve?”

Quang Nguyen looked surprised. “We had not really thought about that.”

“He is my adopted child,” Juna pointed out.

“I apologize. How old is Moki?”

“There’s no way to know for sure, but Ukatonen thinks he’s about thirty-six Tendu-years-old, which would make him approximately thirty-three or thirty-four Earth-years-old.”

Quang Nguyen raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“The Tendu mature very differently than we do,” Juna explained. “In many ways, Moki is more independent than a human child. He would make a good servant. He is extremely obedient, and he already has many of the necessary skills. But,” she continued, “he has a deeply stubborn streak. It does not show itself often, but when it does, he would rather die than give up.

“He nearly died twice,” Juna recalled. “Once when he was trying to get me to become his sitik, and again when he tried to sneak on board our starship, so that he could go with me. Both times it was because he refused to give up.”

“I see,” Quang Nguyen remarked. There was a long silence.

“It’s the Tendu, isn’t it? That’s why your family is interested in me.”

“It would be counterproductive to lie,” he said. “Humanity stands to gain a great deal from the Tendu. They stand to gain a great deal from us. An alliance would be very advantageous to our family, but I think you underrate yourself, my dear. You are young, intelligent, and beautiful. More importantly, you are strong and determined. You survived four difficult years among the Tendu. You brokered a most impressive treaty; and you have withstood and triumphed over some extremely powerful political pressure.”

“I had help,” Juna said. “Without the Tendu, I would have died on Tiangi. Some of the finest minds of both our people helped to forge that treaty. And Mr. Manning, and Analin Goudrian helped get us out of quarantine.”

“But you stood at the center of all of those things, Juna. You helped make them happen,” Quang Nguyen replied. “You have met my wife, Abeo. She possesses strength like yours. She is both the rock, and the river raging around it. That is why I cherish her as I do. That is why I proposed that we court you. A woman of your strength and vision would be an asset to our family, even without your ties to the Tendu.”

“Still, this is a marriage for gain,” Juna said with a shrug. “I’m not entirely comfortable with that.”

Quang laid a gentle hand on her arm. “Juna, every marriage is for gain, else, why would we do it?”

“But I want to gain a family,” Juna explained.

“And you will be,” he said. “Tonight we will have a reception in your honor. Most of the rest of this branch of the family will be there, including all our unpaired men. Hopefully one of them will strike a spark in your heart. Please, give our family a chance, Juna. We would be honored to have you join us.”

“All right,” Juna said. Perhaps she would be drawn to someone at the reception. Belonging to a family like this certainly would have advantages— for the Tendu, for the child beneath her heart, and for herself. It would not be wise to turn away just yet.

He glanced at his watch. “I’m afraid that I must leave you to attend to some other duties. Please, feel free to wander wherever you like.”

“Thank you, Quang Nguyen.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you tonight.” He turned and walked off across the compound.

Juna headed for the forest. She wandered through the woods on the neatly groomed, cleared path. It was good to be in the forest, alone. Up overhead, a bird called, a loud, sonorous call. Farther away, another bird replied. There were faint rustlings here and there in the foliage, as unseen animals fed or fought, or courted. She looked longingly up at the treetops, aching to be up in the hidden world of the canopy. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She stripped down to her bra and underwear, wrapping her clothes in a couple of broad green heliconia leaves, pinned together with twigs. She tied the package around her waist with several strands of vine and started climbing.

Juna climbed steadily until she reached the treetops. She found a sturdy branch and sat for a few minutes, admiring the glorious view. The trees stretched away to the edges of the dome, and beyond that was the sterile grey surface of the Moon. Beyond the dome overhead the crescent Earth hovered in the sky, against a background of brilliant, un-twinkling stars. This would, indeed be a wonderful place for her and the Tendu to live.

On Tiangi, she would never have been able to sit in such a vulnerable spot. The sky belonged to the enormous raptors that patrolled the canopy, looking for any animal unwary enough to stick its head above the treetops. She had been attacked and nearly killed by one of the huge, soaring creatures as she sat in an exposed treetop.

After spending a long pleasant interval admiring the view, Juna climbed back down into the canopy, and called to the Tendu. She heard a pair of answering calls, and headed toward them.

Moki came swinging up to her, his skin rippling blue and pink with excitement. “It’s wonderful! It’s like home, only different. Everything is from Earth, like you!” he exclaimed.

“Yes, Moki, everything is from Earth, like me,” Juna said, amused by his excitement.

Ukatonen leaped onto the branch, his skin azure with joy.

“It’s good to be here,” he said. “Moki’s right, it is a great deal like home. Thank you for bringing us here.”

“You’re welcome,” Juna said. “Have you looked above the trees yet?”

They shook their heads.

“There are no koirah here,” she said. “It’s safe. And the view is incredible.”

She led them up into the clear, bright sunlight. “Look,” she said. “Isn’t it amazing?”

Slowly, tentatively, the Tendu looked around at the dark sky, the crescent Earth, the myriad pinpoint stars, the harsh sunlight.

“It’s very strange,” Ukatonen said. “It looks like night, but the sun— ” He shook his head.

Moki’s ears were spread wide as he looked around. “Is that Earth?” he said, pointing.

Juna nodded.

“Where’s the rest of it?”

Juna was explaining about how part of the Earth was in shadow so that you couldn’t see it, when a shuttle passed overhead. The two Tendu vanished into the canopy. Juna sighed sadly. Even here, in this safe place, their instinct to avoid high, exposed places was too strong.

Juna climbed down after them.

“It’s all right,” she said, when she found them several layers down, looking anxiously upward. “It’s just a shuttle. Nothing to worry about.”

“I understand,” Ukatonen said, “but this is how the Tendu have managed to survive for so long. I have been avoiding the treetops for a thousand years or more. I cannot stop doing it now.”

“I’m sorry,” Juna said. “I shouldn’t have asked this of you.”

“It is a wonderful view, siti,” Moki offered. “I’m sorry that we can’t enjoy it as you do.”

“It’s all right, bai, you were very brave to go up there at all. So, why don’t you show me the forest?” she suggested.

And so they spent the next several hours exploring the jungle. Juna was amazed at how quickly they adapted to this jungle, even though everything in it, including the gravity, was alien to them. Juna’s watch chimed, reminding her that it was time to get ready for the evening’s reception.

Ukatonen led her to a pool with a waterfall. She stripped naked and plunged in, washing away the dirt from her climb. Moki brought her clothes, and she sat on a warm rock, letting the sun dry her off while the other two splashed in the pool.

They’re so happy here, Juna thought. It’s going to be hard for them to return to Snyder Station after this. She sighed and got up and began putting on her clothes.

“Come on,” she said. “There’s a party we have to go to.”

The Tendu followed her back to their rooms reluctantly. They watched as she hurriedly washed and dried her hair, combing it out into a tight Afro that clung to her head, emphasizing the planes of her face. She slipped into the purple-and-red evening dress that she’d bought for the trip and regarded herself in the mirror. The dress was all right, she decided. It harmonized with her rich brown skin, and maximized her bustline, which had filled out remarkably with her pregnancy. The gown’s full skirt hid the slight potbelly of her pregnancy. It made her look smooth, elegant, and surprisingly young. She painted a little kohl around her eyes, dabbed on a little blusher and lipstick, and decided that she was ready.

There was a knock on the door. It was Yang. He gave her a beautiful spray of white tuberoses, which she pinned into her hair.

“You look lovely, Juna,” he told her. “I’m honored to be seen with you. All the other men will be jealous.”

Juna blushed. “Thank you, Yang,” she said. “You’re very kind.”

He held out his arm, and she slipped her hand through it. They walked out together, the Tendu following behind them. The dome filters had been polarized, and the compound was dark. Night-blooming flowers poured their fragrance into the warm air. Cicadas chirred away, filling the air with a curtain of shimmering sound.

“It’s a beautiful night,” Juna said.

“Thank you,” Yang responded. “We’ve done our best to make it so.”

Juna gave him a sidelong glance. He seemed to see nothing unusual in his remark, but it reminded her of the enormous power that this family took for granted.

“Yes, I suppose you have,” she said, her face carefully neutral.

“Here we are,” he said, opening a door and ushering her and the Tendu into a large, elegant room filled with people. Quang Nguyen and his wife greeted Juna, guiding her to a comfortable sofa. Children dressed in house livery brought her appetizers, which she accepted gratefully. All that exploring had made her hungry. Another child-servant slipped up to her and took her drink order.

“Dinner will be served in about forty-five minutes,” Quang Nguyen told her.

“Thank you,” she said. “The Tendu and I were so busy exploring your lovely rain forest that we forgot to eat.”

“Would you like to meet our head ecologist?” he asked.

“Yes, I would,” Juna replied.

“I’ll go get him,” he said.

While he was gone, Juna sat back and watched the glittering crowd dressed in beautifully tailored silks, and adorned with gold and precious gems from the family’s mines here on the Moon. The name of this place, Joia da Lua, memorialized the gemstones that were this family’s initial source of wealth. She felt plain and out of place amongst all this opulence.

Quang’s wife, Abeo, came up with a handsome Asian man on her arm. “Juna, this is Hideo Tanaka Xaviera, one of my fleet captains. He’s asked to meet you.”

“I am honored to make your acquaintance, Tanaka-san.”

“I am honored to meet you, as well, Dr. Saari. Please, tell me about Tiangi. What was it like?”

Juna smiled reminiscently. “Like Earth, but greener. It was beautiful in a way that Earth has not been for many centuries. But dangerous too. I spent a great deal of my time trying not to get eaten or fall out of a tree.”

Just then Quang Nguyen brought over the ecologist, and then several other men were introduced to Juna. She was soon caught up in a whirl of introductions and flirting. Everyone, it seemed, had a man to introduce to Juna. At one point, she was formally introduced to a man by a four-year-old girl, who turned out to be his niece. She barely had a chance to talk to the two Tendu, who were surrounded by their own coterie of admirers.

The party went on until well past three o’clock. Juna tiptoed into her room careful not to wake the sleeping Tendu, slid out of her dress, and climbed into bed, tired, but still too excited to sleep. She had never been the center of so much masculine attention before. It was a heady experience. She lay in the darkness, looking up at the ceiling, and thinking over the evening.

While the attention paid her was flattering, she was not really drawn to any particular man. Yang was familiar, but his smooth, withdrawn nature didn’t attract her. She had the most in common with the ecologist, Jacques Quanh Xaviera, and had agreed to tour the forest with him and the Tendu the next day. Jacques had been in the Survey, but had retired to take over the management of the Xavieras’ various preserves.

“We’ve preserved so many rare and endangered species. Some day, we’ll be able to reintroduce them back into the wild,” he’d told her. “And I was ready to settle down. I knew I could make a difference here.”

Juna rolled over onto her side and pulled the pillow down a bit. Jacques seemed nice enough, but there was no spark there either. She had met a lot of men tonight. Perhaps in a few days, when she got to know some of them better, she would feel attracted by one of the Xavieras.

And if not, what then? She rolled over onto her back and stared up at the shadowy ceiling again. The Tendu did love it here, and it would be a wonderful place for her child…

“Siti?” Moki said. “Why are you alone? I thought you would have found someone to mate with.”

Juna sat up. Moki was standing on the doorway. “This isn’t like Tiangi, Moki. I’m not just looking for someone to fertilize my eggs.” She patted her stomach. “It’s a little late for that. I’m looking for someone I can fall in love with.”

“Why?”

“For as long as there have been human poets, philosophers, and lovers, they have been trying to answer that very question. I guess the best answer is that I would be happier in a marriage where there were bonds of love. It’s a tie that binds people together. It’s like allu-a in that way.”

“And what if you don’t fall in love with any of the Xavieras?”

Juna looked down at the rumpled sheets. “That was just what I was trying to decide, Moki. If it were as simple as finding a place where you and Ukatonen could both be happy, then I would marry the Xavieras. But the Xavieras are a rich and powerful family. They want access to the Tendu. There are good things and bad things about that. We would gain powerful protectors, but”—she held up her hands in a gesture of helplessness—“they would expect favors in return. Those may not be things that would be good for the Tendu.”

“Then we should not tie ourselves to them,” Ukatonen said from the doorway. He spoke in skin speech, his words glowing in the shadowy room.

“Even when they can provide you with a rain forest to live in?” Juna asked.

“I did not come here to live in a rain forest, Eerin,” he told her. “I can do that on Tiangi. I came here to learn about your people, and I have learned a great deal. For instance,” he said, still in skin speech, “they have listening devices in these rooms. They can hear everything you say aloud.”

Juna covered her mouth, horrified. Had she said anything she would regret them overhearing?

“I overheard Abeo and another woman discussing it,” the enkar explained.

Juna turned on a light, and found a pad of paper. “Did they see you?” she asked, sketching the skin speech symbols on the paper. The glyphs would be completely incomprehensible to the Xavieras, even if they had video cameras installed.

“I don’t think so. I was standing outside, near an open window,” Ukatonen said in skin speech.

“What else did they say?” Juna wrote.

“Abeo asked if the microphone in our rooms was working. The other woman said that it was, and that they could hear us perfectly, but that so far you’d said nothing of interest. Then they started speculating about which of the men you would choose. Quang Nguyen wants you to settle on Yang, but Abeo wants him to marry someone else. The other woman thought you would go for the ecolo-gist.”

“Thank you for telling me this,” Juna wrote. “I will not be marrying these people. We can discuss it tomorrow, out in the jungle.”

She yawned, and said aloud, “God, it’s late! I should get some sleep.”

“Good night Eerin,” Ukatonen said. “Come, Moki, let’s go to bed. Sleep well.”

Now that her decision was made, the rest of Juna’s time among the Xavieras felt almost like a vacation. She flirted with the men, explored the rain forest with the Tendu and Jacques, got to know the women, and played with the children. Despite their eavesdropping, Juna liked the Xavieras. They were witty, personable, and very intelligent. At times, she even regretted the fact that she had to refuse their proposal, but nothing happened to change her mind.

She and the Tendu spoke only of inconsequential things in their suite, reserving any serious discussion for the time they spent up in the canopy, where Juna was reasonably certain they could neither be seen nor heard.

On the evening of the last day of their visit, Quang Nguyen, Abeo, and their son Yang invited her and the Tendu for a quiet farewell dinner. Just before dinner, Yang handed her a small, exquisitely crafted wooden box.

“For you,” he explained, “a courting present. The wood is from our forest.”

“Thank you,” Juna said, her voice hushed in admiration. “It’s beautiful.”

“Here, let me show you how it opens.” He slid aside an invisible panel, releasing the lid. “There,” he said, handing it to her.

She opened it. Inside, cradled on deep green velvet, was a beautifully worked golden brooch, made in the shape of a Tendu, the red stripes along its back picked out in tiny rubies, its eyes made of emeralds. The workmanship was exquisite. The Tendu seemed almost alive. Juna glanced up and saw a flicker of amusement flash across Mold’s body, and she fought back a flush of embarrassment. It was exactly the color of a Tendu in heat.

“I can’t accept this,” Juna said. “It’s too much!”

Quang Nguyen folded her hands around their gift.

“Please,” he said. “You are a remarkable woman. This is a barely adequate tribute to all you have done. We wished to thank you for the honor you have done us in considering our proposal of marriage.”

If he were Yang’s age, and unpaired, Juna realized, it would have been much harder to refuse the Xavieras’ proposal. She looked up and saw Abeo’s eyes on her, and realized that Abeo knew this too. The knowledge chilled her.

“Thank you, Quang Nguyen,” Juna said. “You honor me with this gift.”

Just then a little girl in a white uniform came out and rang a dinner gong, rescuing Juna from this awkward conversation.

“Dinner is served,” she announced, and the thick tension of the moment evaporated.

Conversation over dinner was light and inconsequential.

“So,” Quang Nguyen said, as the children served dessert and poured tea into translucent porcelain cups. “Have you decided whether you will you do our family the honor of marrying us?”

“Yes, Quang Nguyen, I have,” Juna replied. Her hands were sweaty with nervousness. “Though I am deeply honored by your proposal, I am sorry to say that I must refuse your offer.”

A light seemed to go out of Quang Nguyen’s eyes. His visible disappointment surprised Juna. “I am very sorry to hear that, Juna. May I ask why?”

“Someone placed a listening device in my room,” she said.

Quang Nguyen’s eyes flicked to Abeo and back again, so swiftly that if Juna hadn’t been looking for it, she might have missed it.

“On behalf of the entire family, I apologize for this insult.” His eyes were hard and bright with anger, and Juna realized that he could be a formidable adversary.

“It wasn’t just the microphone,” Juna told him. “There are other reasons as well. The Tendu and I must remain as neutral as possible. Tying myself to your family would interfere with that neutrality. And I prefer a marriage of affection to one of convenience. It is possible that I might have found someone to pair with, but— ” She shrugged. “Were the circumstances different, I would have accepted your offer, but if the circumstances were different, I think the offer would never have been made.”

“Dr. Saari,” Abeo said, “I appreciate your tact in not mentioning my role in this, but it is not necessary. I like you, Juna Saari, and I’m truly sorry that this has come between us. But the Xavieras are a wealthy and powerful family, and we have enemies. I wished to keep my family safe. If you would like, we will destroy the recordings before your eyes. There is nothing particularly revealing on them.”

“That will not be necessary,” Juna told her. She admired Abeo, despite the invasion of their privacy. She, too, was sorry that this had come between them.

“I am most sorry that you cannot accept our offer,” Quang Nguyen said. “Despite this unfortunate incident, I hope you will consider our family as your friends. If there is ever anything that we can do for you, please ask, and if it will not harm our interests, we will do it.”

“Thank you, Quang Nguyen,” Juna replied. “Your friendship does us honor.”

He laid a hand on her arm. “Juna,” he said, “I want you to understand something. We are not attempting to set up a quid pro quo arrangement here. We are asking for something much deeper. The Tendu have much to give humanity, but there are powerful forces allied against you. They are afraid of the challenge and the changes that the Tendu bring with them. The Xaviera family does not want these people to succeed, and we are willing to commit our resources to stopping them. Do you understand?”

She looked into his dark, almond-shaped eyes. She could see only truth there. “Yes, Quang Nguyen, I do.”

“The Tendu will remember that you have offered your help,” Ukatonen declared.

“Thank you, Ukatonen,” Quang Nguyen said. “We are grateful.”

Ukatonen inclined his head graciously. It was a gesture he had learned from Quang Nguyen, but it fit him well.

“We have been trying to visit Earth,” Ukatonen said, “but we cannot get permission. Is this something that the Xavieras can help us with?”

“I will see to this,” Abeo volunteered. “I’ll will put Raoul on it. He enjoys this kind of thing,” she told her husband.

“Thank you, Abeo,” Juna said. “We appreciate it.”

“I will tell Raoul to hurry,” Abeo went on. “In a few months, your pregnancy will interfere with your ability to travel. And you should have time to spend with your child when it’s born.”

Her dark face lit up with a fond smile. “Having a baby is such a pleasure, especially the first time. Don’t let anyone or anything come between you and that baby for the first six months, longer if you can possibly manage it.”

Juna nodded. “Don’t worry, [[‹I’m taking my full child-leave.]] The rest of the world can go hang.”

Ukatonen walked with Eerin and their security detail down the hall to their meeting with the hospital staff. He thought of the Xavieras’ compound and a faint mist of regret clouded his skin. It was too bad that they could not stay there, but Eerin was right. Despite the powerful inducements that the Xavieras had to offer, they could not tie themselves to so powerful a family. Still, he was tired of this cold, dry station, and the continual presence of security escorts. They kept him from meeting people, and learning what they thought, which was an important part of an enkar’s work. He hoped that Eerin could figure out a way to rid themselves of their escort.

Dr. Andraia met them at the door to the conference room.

“Welcome back,” he said, as he opened the door for them. “We missed you.”

“Thank you,” Ukatonen said.

He waited while the humans settled down and the meeting got underway.

“Because of the security problems we’ve been having,” Dr. Andraia began, “we need to make some changes. We’ve made arrangements for you to be quartered here at the hospital. We’re doubling your security escort, for additional protection.”

Ukatonen let a private flicker of irritation fork down one leg, where it could not be seen.

“Why do we need so much security?” he asked.

“We’re afraid that you might get hurt. Someone might try to kidnap you, or hold you hostage,” Dr. Andraia replied.

Ukatonen looked at Eerin, ears spread wide.

“He means that someone might catch you and try to keep you against your will,” she explained.

“Like taming an animal?” Moki asked.

Eerin shook her head. “No, they want to keep you because you’re valuable, because they think they can get things from the government by threatening to harm you.”

“Or someone might simply want to kill you,” Dr. Andraia put in. “The hospital has already received a number of death threats against you.”

Ukatonen was puzzled. “Why would they try to do such a thing? Have I harmed anyone without realizing it?”

“By coming here and healing the sick and injured, you have given people who had no hope a chance at a miracle. But it is a very scarce miracle. You can only heal a fraction of the people who need it. That is what makes you so valuable as a hostage,” Dr. Andraia explained. “Dying people are desperate people, and some of them will resort to violence in order to get your help.”

“I don’t understand,” Ukatonen said.

“You’re doing things that are completely beyond our medical capabilities. That is what makes you so valuable, and why we need the security guards to protect you.”

“I see,” Ukatonen said. “So, Eerin, Moki, and I need security escorts because we are changing your world by healing people, yes?”

“I’m afraid so, Ukatonen,” Dr. Andraia agreed.

“I see,” Ukatonen said once again. “Then we have violated Contact Protocols by healing people. I must think about the implications of this.” He rose and walked out of the meeting, ignoring the doctors’ attempts to call him back. Eerin and Moki scrambled to follow him.

He said nothing as they were shown to their new quarters. He remembered the man who had grabbed his arm and begged him to heal his wife. He should have wondered why this human was acting so desperate, but he had been so eager to get to Earth, to set foot on a real world, that he had forgotten all about the Contact Protocols. He had violated his own judgment, dishonoring himself and casting doubt on all of the other enkar. There was only one honorable way out.

“En, tell me what you’re thinking,” Eerin asked when they had reached the privacy of their quarters.

“I had hoped that healing those people and working with the doctors would help us get to* Earth. I let my desire to go to Earth cloud my sight.” He paused, the deep brown of his shame clouded by grey regret. “I have failed in my judgment as an enkar. The only honorable thing for me to do is to die.”

“You can’t die, en,” Eerin told him. “We need you, Moki needs you.”

“It is a question of honor,” he said with a shrug.

“How are we going to explain your death to the Tendu?”

“The enkar will understand,” Ukatonen told her.

“And my people,” she said. “What about them? What do you think they’ll do when you commit suicide? They’ll slap a Non-Contact order on Tiangi. It’ll be impossible for Moki. Either he’ll be sent home without me and die, or have to stay here with me and never see another Tendu for as long as he lives. Yes, you tampered with the protocols, but that’s my fault as much as yours. I was the one who should have taken the protocols into account, not you.”

“Why didn’t you?” Ukatonen demanded.

Eerin looked down, her dark skin reddening slightly with embarrassment. She lifted her hands in a gesture of helplessness. “I wanted to do something that would show my people what you were capable of. I wanted them to understand how much they had to gain from the Tendu.” She shook her head ruefully. “I succeeded too well, I’m afraid. But,” she said, looking up at Ukatonen, “the point is that this is not your mistake. It is mine.”

“But I am an enkar. I should have seen this.”

“Ukatonen,” Eerin said, “you became an enkar because you knew your people and your world inside and out. You spent years in training, acquiring knowledge that the Tendu had gathered over many millenia. Humans are something completely new and strange to your people. We don’t work by your rules. There’s no reason for your judgment to be perfect. We humans survive and learn from our mistakes. So should you, Ukatonen.”

Ukatonen felt the first stirrings of doubt. He looked away, not wanting to hear any more. He was afraid she was right, and that made him feel like he’d been covered in dung. He was caught between his honor and his duty.

Moki touched his shoulder. “I need you to show me what it means to be a Tendu, every bit as much as I need my sitik to show me what it means to be human. What good will I be to our people if I am too much a stranger to them? Eerin is right, en. We must take what we learn back to our people. What you have learned is more important than your honor. Dying before you pass along what you have learned to the other Tendu would be selfish.”

The disadvantage to sound speech, Ukatonen realized, was that you had to listen to it. With skin speech, you could look away and not see it. A flicker of regret passed over his body, and he reached out and touched Moki affectionately on the shoulder.

“It is not often that a bami has something to teach an enkar,” Ukatonen said in skin speech, taking care to keep the colors of his words soft and gentle.

“Forgive me, en.”

The black bars of negation flickered over his skin. “Being right does not require forgiveness, Moki.”

“Then you are not going to kill yourself?” Eerin asked.

Ukatonen shook his head. “Not now.” He found himself turning the idea of living over in his mind, and discovered that he was relieved at the prospect.

Eerin let out an explosive sigh and relaxed. “Thank god,” she said. “You really scared me.”

“I know,” Ukatonen said.

“What now?” Eerin asked.

“I haven’t thought that far yet,” Ukatonen confessed, brown with embarrassment. “I was too busy dying.”

“I think— ” Eerin began.

Ukatonen looked up at her questioningly.

“I think we should stop healing people,” she finished. “We’ve shown what the Tendu are capable of, and that’s enough for now. The problem is how to break the news. We’ll need to speak to Analin about that.”